Yeah, the whole obsession with monarchy and “the royals” is competely lost on me. 
I will say that it produced one of the undisputed all time great works of satirical art, though:
Except the tabloids and paparazzi will still be following her and her family around for life.
That’s possible. Or they could go on TV and complain about their family, in which the tabloids and paparazzi will be following them around for life, but even worse.
The interview made it sound like there is an “organization” behind the scenes that pulls on all the strings and orchestrates everything in order to maintain the myth of British Royalty, and they Royals themselves have little agency over their lives. And that organization coordinates at arms-length with the media in order to maintain a tense “truce” with the tabloids to keep the farce going so that everyone profits, but few are really injured. Except occasionally.
Gossiping is natural and expected, but don’t take it too far. Royals are expected to behave a certain way and do as they’re told, but don’t get out of line or do something unexpected, or there will be “consequences”. It seems the Royals may have some levers of control on what is being gossiped about but may not have been doing much to help a distressed Meghan. Maybe the organization saw her as some sort of liability, or risk to the gravy train, so made moves, or limited help for her, in order to divert attention from some other ridiculous scandal. I wonder what, about Meghan, made her different from others who married into this family to justify her treatment…it must be one thing…if I could just put my finger on it…
As I said in another thread here - all the personalities of the Royal family appear to be pawns in this charade - the organization of the Royal Family seems to have made some decisions regarding Meghan and Harry in order to maintain the order of things so it can continue it’s merry way.
I don’t, by the way, follow the royals and have no real opinion on whether they should be given “special treatment”. I just know that if I had married into a family, I’d expect them to do something to stop people from abusing me, or at least to not object when I tried to stop the abuse. How many times have people on this board said that bullying and abuse has to be stood up to, not accepted as something that is normal?
The central royal family are all, essentially, public people. Almost everything about their lives plays out in public whether they like it or not. A lot of the press has abused a lot of them and it’s not right. If the press publishes lies about a member of the royal family and the family, which does still have some power, does nothing to stop that, I don’t see any reason to not use the press to get the other side of the story out into the public.
On a personal level, if I were so depressed that I was considering suicide, then by damn my family should be doing something to get me the help I need, not telling me to just suck it up because getting help “doesn’t look good”.
I mean, seriously people, WTF? If the press had done something like this to an everyday person, you’d be up in arms because no one, ever, should have to put up with abuse. If a family had failed a family member the way the Windsors appear to have failed Megan, you’d be telling her to cut ties with them. As for keeping it private because sharing it is vulgar, fuck that noise. The abuse happened in public. It needs to be dealt with the same way.
Abuse doesn’t stop if it’s kept secret. Depression doesn’t go away if it’s kept secret. Both can and often do get worse if they’re kept secret. It has to be confronted, out in the open, or nothing changes. Excusing the abuse and the lack of support by saying, “oh, they’re rich” or “oh, they’re just parasites”, or “oh, it’s been happening for years, why should this person be whining about it or trying to stop it or even discuss it?” is showing such a depth of lack of compassion for another human being that it is mind-boggling.
Or they could talk about a problem to alert people that it exists, while getting the catharsis of finally being able to talk about it and not having to keep it all a secret. The thing that harmed them most was apparently not being able to defend themselves from the public. If that’s the case, then part healing would likely be to talk actually talk about it. (I presume they waited a while to get psychological help first.)
Meghan Markle apparently admitted to mental illness, of depression so bad she was considering self-harm. And that seems to have at least been aggravated by the way she was treated, and the fact that her own family wouldn’t stand up for her against racist assholes. Nor was she allowed to get the help she needed.
I know that, if this were my family, my response would be similar. If my family can’t support me when I’m doing so poorly, and my mental health requires me to leave, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. And if I genuinely love my wife, and she’s the one with the trouble, then I’d leave with her.
It seems to me that—whatever this system is that was trying to protect the royal family from scandal and such—it has just failed completely. This is surely more bad publicity than would have happened if they’d dealt with it sooner. Maybe that’ll teach them to try and deal with problems before they explode.
And then there’s just having representation for people with mental illness. Being rich or being royal doesn’t make you immune to that sort of thing. There is a benefit when these sorts of things are talked about out loud, rather than treated like some sort of taboo. If even one person with similar issues sees this and is willing to talk to someone about it, that’s a win.
But, of course, there’s the opposite issue, which I briefly touched on in the other thread. If the response to such admissions is contempt or calling people “drama queens,” then they’re more likely to keep it held in.
I didn’t actually expect to care about this at all. I was with the OP. But finding out what Meghan actually had to say left me thinking it was good that she talked about it.
This. All those here saying that Markle had to say something don’t understand how the press works.
In my professional life I have to deal with media management professionals at a very high level and they will tell you there are two approaches. One is to feed the beast. Become part of it. Give journalists the copy they need to fill the gaping maw of the media machine. Make their job easier. This might work out, but if you take this course you will be riding the whirlwind. You have only the most tenuous of control over what role they decide to give you (villain, hero etc). The way to best get on the media’s good side is to Feed the Beast more! because that makes journalists’ life easier. But it becomes all consuming. And bear in mind that for Markle and Windsor, it isn’t just for a limited incident like those I’ve experienced - it’s for life.
The other course is to starve the beast. If you give no access and provide no comment, you can drop out of the picture. Of course this doesn’t work if you are an essential part of the story, but Markle and Windsor are not - there are plenty of other members of the fam (many of whom you hear barely anything about - which shows it can be done).
The UK press are - particularly when it comes to the Royal family - professional trolls. They are nasty and they want Markle to bite back, because that creates a story. DNFTT. Those of you saying the family should have helped should perhaps consider whether they have more experience than you (or Markle) of how to starve trolls. Anyone who has been on these boards or any other social media for some time would know that there are some people who cannot resist the temptation to feed trolls because they cannot let a trollish remark pass.
Maybe, just maybe, Markle and Windsor have given this one interview in an effort to put their side of the story before shutting up for good. If so maybe that’s a decent strategy. But if they give more, then they are feeding the beast and the beast will keep demanding more and it will be their fault.
Think about it like this. I am driving on a highway. I am surrounded by other vehicles, roadside advertisements, scenery, your passengers etc etc, but I’m used to filtering out 95% of it and just concentrating on what’s important. And indeed have a habit of driving on quieter roads so I don’t even have to filter out too much. Then someone starts throwing dead cats onto the road in front. For weeks. One after the other. And they aren’t even real dead cats they are just pointless illusions of dead cats that keep being a distraction. Yes, I can filter it out and I do but (a) why can’t they just FUCK OFF since it’s just pointless shit anyway and (b) there could maybe just possibly be a hint of a smidgen of recreational outrage in my OP. Possibly.
Why? What’s gained? Quite the contrary, in fact; this will likely make it worse than it otherwise would have been.
Oh, you had it right at first. “Telling her to cut ties with them” is bang on, and that’s what they did. But this Oprah PR move just puts the crosshairs of the press right back on them.
And now anyone who targets them is going to be seen as the bullies they are. It’s a start.
Worked for Diana Spencer…
The media has been acting like this for longer than Meghan Markle has been alive. Their bullying Diana more or less to death didn’t slow 'em down. Why would this?
This “they HAD to go on TV” line of thought is Donald Trump type thinking. “They insulted me, gotta insult 'em back!” It’s nonsense.
Yeah, because the British Royal Family is such a kind, lovely stable group… not.
I don’t have an answer to the media trolling that’s been going on for generations, but we shouldn’t accept abuse either from inside or outside a family just because a person is “public”.
They didn’t have to go on television and talk about it.
But anyone whose kneejerk response to someone who has been victimized speaking publicly about being victimized is to say “See? This proves they’re a professional victim!” is an asshole.
See the video trailer and weep…
Dismaland: watch the trailer for Banksy’s ‘bemusement park’ – video | Art and design | The Guardian
So what should they do when the media fucks them over - just close their eyes and think of England?
There’s something to be said for fighting back against bullies. Even if you have no chance of winning, you should still fight.
Other than (ironically) this thread, I’m ignoring Royal claptrap as ever. But the tabloid shit-show will be hard to avoid if the Queen or (more likely perhaps) the Duke of Edinburgh happen to keel over in the next few weeks. Then it’ll be ‘Meghan the Murderer!’, I guarantee.
She does if she wants the title (for her son), and the security and the money. Things she’s complaining that she now won’t get.
One thing I find fascinating is how classic the attack on the “administration” was. If you want to attack the monarchy, you don’t attack the monarch - instead, you say that the monarch is a wonderful person, but that they’re surrounded by false advisors whispering poison in their ears, by courtiers who isolate them from the realm, and by jumped-up palace servants who think they can set policy. Just get rid of them, and the ship of state will get back on course. It’s real old-school stuff.
I’ll never read a story about the “Royals” unless the word “Baseball” or “Guillotine” is in the headline.
This is my takeaway.